Tasmanian-born Peter Sculthorpe (1929 – 2014) was one of Australia’s most iconic modernist classical composers of the twentieth century. Kakadu (1988) seems to have sparked the most controversy of Sculthorpe’s works and has become one of his most well-known pieces. In the program notes provided in the score’s foreword, Sculthorpe asserts that “the melodic material in Kakadu, as in much of my recent music, was suggested by the contours and rhythms of Aboriginal chant.” Sculthorpe attributed this melodic material to the Arnem Land chant, Djilile. Consequently, Sculthorpe has been criticized for extracting Djilile from its authentic context as an act of musical appropriation. The published arguments through Australian musicologists and composers such as Jonathan Paget, Amanda Harris, and Anne Boyd have analyzed the issue in terms of creative license. These arguments have also incorporated value judgments of Sculthorpe’s ethics and persona to underscore their reasoning. The purpose of this project is to complicate the discussion of Djililein Sculthorpe’s music by situating its usage within Indigenous Australian copyright lawyer Dr. Terri Janke’s True Tracks: Respecting Indigenous Knowledge and Culture (2021) model and framework for respectful cultural exchange. The previous defenses of Sculthorpe’s work need to be re-examined in order to fit a more modern standard of respectful cultural interaction.
","abstract_html":"<p>Tasmanian-born Peter Sculthorpe (1929 – 2014) was one of Australia’s most iconic modernist classical composers of the twentieth century. <em>Kakadu</em> (1988) seems to have sparked the most controversy of Sculthorpe’s works and has become one of his most well-known pieces. In the program notes provided in the score’s foreword, Sculthorpe asserts that “the melodic material in <em>Kakadu</em>, as in much of my recent music, was suggested by the contours and rhythms of Aboriginal chant.” Sculthorpe attributed this melodic material to the Arnem Land chant, <em>Djilile</em>. Consequently, Sculthorpe has been criticized for extracting <em>Djilile</em> from its authentic context as an act of musical appropriation. The published arguments through Australian musicologists and composers such as Jonathan Paget, Amanda Harris, and Anne Boyd have analyzed the issue in terms of creative license. These arguments have also incorporated value judgments of Sculthorpe’s ethics and persona to underscore their reasoning. The purpose of this project is to complicate the discussion of <em>Djilile</em>in Sculthorpe’s music by situating its usage within Indigenous Australian copyright lawyer Dr. Terri Janke’s <em>True Tracks: Respecting Indigenous Knowledge and Culture</em> (2021) model and framework for respectful cultural exchange. The previous defenses of Sculthorpe’s work need to be re-examined in order to fit a more modern standard of respectful cultural interaction.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Boyko, Natasia T."],"institution":null,"degree_name":"M.A.","degree_level":"Masters Thesis","degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Zoe Weiss","Kelly Fayard","Sarah Morelli","Mitch Ohriner"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2023,"date_issued":"2023-01-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2023-01-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:01:39Z","subjects":["Appropriation","Djilile","Janke","Kakadu","Peter Sculthorpe","True Tracks","Arts and Humanities","Composition","Indigenous, Indian, and Aboriginal Law","Indigenous Studies","Intellectual Property Law","Music","Musicology","Race, Ethnicity and Post-Colonial Studies"],"languages":["English (eng)"],"rights":["Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.
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"]},{"key":"dc:format","label":"Dc Format","values":["application/pdf"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Ethics in Kakadu (1988): Finding Djilile’s “True Tracks”"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Zoe Weiss","Kelly Fayard","Sarah Morelli","Mitch Ohriner"],"dc:creator":["Boyko, Natasia T."],"dc:description.abstract":["Tasmanian-born Peter Sculthorpe (1929 – 2014) was one of Australia’s most iconic modernist classical composers of the twentieth century. Kakadu (1988) seems to have sparked the most controversy of Sculthorpe’s works and has become one of his most well-known pieces. In the program notes provided in the score’s foreword, Sculthorpe asserts that “the melodic material in Kakadu, as in much of my recent music, was suggested by the contours and rhythms of Aboriginal chant.” Sculthorpe attributed this melodic material to the Arnem Land chant, Djilile. Consequently, Sculthorpe has been criticized for extracting Djilile from its authentic context as an act of musical appropriation. The published arguments through Australian musicologists and composers such as Jonathan Paget, Amanda Harris, and Anne Boyd have analyzed the issue in terms of creative license. These arguments have also incorporated value judgments of Sculthorpe’s ethics and persona to underscore their reasoning. The purpose of this project is to complicate the discussion of Djililein Sculthorpe’s music by situating its usage within Indigenous Australian copyright lawyer Dr. Terri Janke’s True Tracks: Respecting Indigenous Knowledge and Culture (2021) model and framework for respectful cultural exchange. The previous defenses of Sculthorpe’s work need to be re-examined in order to fit a more modern standard of respectful cultural interaction.
"],"dc:format":["application/pdf"],"dc:identifier":["https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd/2261"],"dc:language":["English (eng)"],"dc:rights":["Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.
"],"dc:subject":["Appropriation","Djilile","Janke","Kakadu","Peter Sculthorpe","True Tracks","Arts and Humanities","Composition","Indigenous, Indian, and Aboriginal Law","Indigenous Studies","Intellectual Property Law","Music","Musicology","Race, Ethnicity and Post-Colonial Studies"],"dc:title":["Ethics in Kakadu (1988): Finding Djilile’s “True Tracks”"],"thesis:degree_level":["Masters Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["M.A."]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:01:39Z"}